Labor Day a key day to remember and celebrate

Comment

By Gary Lamberg

Sault Ste. Marie Evening News - Sault Ste. Marie, MI

By Gary Lamberg

Posted Sep. 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM

By Gary Lamberg
Posted Sep. 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM

People tend to forget what it was like before the labor movement revolutionized working conditions for employees. Recent economic shifts have left large and formerly powerful unions with declining membership. Some would say that Big Labor has had its day and now lacks a purpose. I think that conclusion might be a bit hasty.

As a working class kid growing up in the Detroit area during the salad days of the auto industry, unions commanded respect and Labor Day was a celebration. Rank and file would march proudly in parades. The positive effects of unions could be seen almost everywhere.

Many northern Michigan transplants have roots in the factories, assembly lines and shops of Detroit. Some can thank a labor union for negotiating the pension that supports their retirement in northern Michigan. Some moved up to God’s Country with a grub steak that would have been impossible to put together without representation by a labor union. And there are still a few folks that must return to their union jobs after enjoying a summer vacation Up North, just like my dad did.

My grandfather was a pressman for the Free Press for decades. He was a blue collar union guy through and through. He stood with the rank and file through many strikes against the paper over the years. And he was able to retire with a union-negotiated pension.

My dad was active in his Detroit graphic arts local for over 40 years and took an early retirement that would have been impossible without the help of his trade union. Union scale wages allowed our family the privilege of two special weeks vacationing on Mullett Lake every August.

When I worked on the track crews during summers with the C&O railroad during college, the union made Gandy Dancer safety the number one priority. And as a young teacher, I was assisted in many ways by the Michigan Education Association while teaching high school in the U.P.

A quick study of the early days of logging in northern Michigan shows how important union-backed safety rules were to the health of lumberjacks. And during my time with the Ironwood Daily Globe I could see what the unions did to secure the health and welfare of the miners of the Gogebic and Marquette Iron Ranges.

Because of organized labor, the life of a miner working underground at White Pine’s Copper Range Mine in the 1990s was much improved from the one faced by his or her predecessors a 100 years earlier in the Copper Country.

The manufacturing and extraction economy that built the unions in America is probably a thing of the past, victim to the evolving world economy and shift to outsourcing. Still, it is important to remember our roots and give credit where credit is due. Union labor played a large role in our country’s development and it is appropriate to recognize and celebrate its accomplishments on Labor Day.

Page 2 of 2 - Have a wonderful holiday.

Gary Lamberg is the publisher of the Sault Evening News and other northern Michigan publications and web sites. He can be reached at glamberg@cheboygantribune.com.